Ways to Get Kids to Help with Chores

How to Motivate Kids to Help with Chores

Expecting kids to never complain about helping out around the house is probably unrealistic. After all, adults experience days when lying in bed and watching television or reading a book is much more appealing than being productive. But trying to get your children to do chores like mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, cleaning their rooms or picking up toys does not have to be a battle every time. There are some strategies parents can adopt to help inspire children to want to take responsibility and complete chores around the house.

For instance, parents can connect helping around the house with a special day or additional activity time. Sometimes all a child wants is some special time with mom and dad, maybe a trip to the zoo, to see a movie or to go out to eat at a favorite restaurant. To motivate kids, families can have a standing arrangement that every week or month, if assigned tasks are completed properly, mom and dad will grant children one wish to do something special.

Or, if you have a family of overachievers, give your kids the chance to work overtime to earn more money if they receive an allowance. Even though some jobs have a clear ending, find other chores that your children could go above and beyond with if they choose. Examples include working in the garden, doing advance homework or helping neighbors with their projects.

By making chores fun parents can also be more successful at making their kids want to do them. During a long weekend give your kids a large project to complete and let them invite friends over to help. While painting the backyard fence might not sound fun to you it could be a blast for a group of kids. Especially if you offer to host a pizza party after the work is done.

Finally, take advantage of sibling rivalries. If one of your kids is assigned a task and he/she doesn’t want to complete it, allow for trades between kids. The child who wants to trade his/her task can give up the reward tied to that chore to a sibling in exchange for the sibling completing the project or they can simply swap jobs.

Gregg Murset is a father of six children and needed a way to teach them about earning, saving and spending money. Murset came up with the idea to combine modern technology with the traditional allowance system to teach responsibility, accountability and the fundamentals of financial literacy. His solution, My Job Chart, is available online at www.myjobchart.com or as a free app.